Quotable Country – 01/30/11 Edition

January 30, 2011 by C.M. Wilcox

Click the bullet after each quote to visit the original source.

This song is suggestive, and I know that — even though there aren’t any bad words in the song. We’re already getting some resistance, and some blowback at radio. Some stations are not wanting to play the song because they think it might offend somebody. ●– – Trace Adkins on “Brown Chicken Brown Cow.” I don’t know if it’s the suggestiveness that offends as much as the sheer stupidity of the thing.

You rarely have what I would refer to as two elite singing voices. Usually duos are one dominant voice, then the other one carries harmony, whether it’s The Judds, Brooks & Dunn, et cetera. And for them to have such unique individual voices that blended so well, I thought it was something really unique, that if they really got a grasp and a direction, then it could really be something special. ●– – Scott Borchetta on Steel Magnolia.

I told Jack too, I love him, but that type of music, I just don’t relate to it. It kind of goes over my head. ●– – Wanda Jackson on the White Stripes. Sadly, also my feeling about what I’ve heard of the new Wanda Jackson album (before I gave up and turned it off). I’ll try again soon, if only to hear the blue yodel.

It’s beautiful when somebody comes along and tells a Charlie [Louvin] or a Porter or a Loretta that it’s okay to be you again. And they are totally equipped for it. All they need is a round of applause and a reason to go to a spotlight and they come back to life. I’ve watched Charlie come back to life again. ●– – Marty Stuart in 2007.

There has been a turn of [new sitcoms] being really super-edgy. This isn’t. I mean, it’s funny and smart, but we’re not trying to hurt anyone’s feelings. We’re not trying to leave people out by being too snarky or whatever. I love that feeling! It’s funny! Look, we’re not doing brain surgery. What makes a good TV show is if you have great writing and you have a great cast. And we have great writing, and I love our cast. ●– – Melissa Peterman on “Working Class.” Anyone catch an episode yet?

I was nominated, I went, and it seemed to me to be a competition of who has the biggest bodyguard. That’s all it was. […] And I was bigger than most of their bodyguards. ●– – Trace Adkins on the Grammys.

I’m trying to do something brand-new, utilizing the influences who made me who I am as a country artist. Some of them, surprisingly, are not necessarily right within country music, but they’re more important to the modern incarnation than you might think. We’re supposed to have Don Henley on a track. ●– – Brad Paisley on his next album. Remember when one of the cool things about Brad Paisley was that he was one of the few guys on country radio not trying to sound like the Eagles? There that goes.

Apparently, there are great numbers of people in this nation who are incapable of thinking for themselves; whose lives are so intellectually barren that they actually have nothing better to do than listen to Rush Limbaugh; people whose lives are so uninteresting that they revel in reports on the latest follies of Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan. Not only are we going fiscally bankrupt; we’re going culturally bankrupt, as well. Every man, woman and adolescent in this country should watch the films Network and Being There. ●– – Country legend Don Henley.

He’s the best there is. He’s the best I’ve ever heard live, and he can sing anything — pop, country, R&B. ●– – David Nail on Train’s Pat Monahan.

It’s my guilty pleasure. Not every dude would admit that, but I crank it in the car with my wife. ●– – Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley on Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream.”

When you haven’t had a lot of life experience, you’re trying to figure out what makes something so great. When you don’t know why something affects you the way that it does, you’re thinking of perfection. [… You’re] thinking, “Oh, this will make it great and this will make it great.” It’s great because it’s someone’s humanity being shared. When it’s open and honest, that’s when the real nature of who you are as a vocalist or as a performer, all of that stuff can finally start to become what it’s supposed to be. Like a settling into yourself. It’s not even a musical thing, it’s a whole mindset, a whole acceptance of who you were supposed to be. Life sounds good. ●– – Alison Krauss on learning to sing and record more honestly.

I’m proud of it when I see someone playing it, but it’s kind of like they’re dancing with my wife. ●– – Junior Brown on seeing others play the guit-steel.

I don’t know what happened. I should be one of the people they’re appealing to, but they’ve lost me. I loved Reba, John Anderson and Mark Chesnutt, but the last good song I heard on country radio was the Dixie Chicks’ ‘Traveling Soldier’; that was the last song that didn’t sound like guys in a cubicle saying, ‘Hmm, what can we come up with today that will appeal to the emotionally bankrupt 36-year-old woman and allow us to go to the bank?’ There are all these groups trying to sound like Fleetwood Mac. I don’t get that. If I were running country radio, I would play Hayes Carll, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Todd Snider, the Dixie Chicks, Rachel Harrington and Justin Townes Earle — good singer-songwriters who are speaking to the country narrative. ●– – Even just as a listener, Elizabeth Cook has been forgotten by country radio.

A third of the people in this world are gonna love you no matter what you do. A third will never love you no matter what you do. A third will never give a crap about you. ●– – Words of wisdom from Wynonna suggest that 2/3 of the people in the world will care about you one way or the other. This seems to me a highly optimistic projection.

I’ve winged off into something I’ve wanted to do for 15 years. I’m a rocker at heart. I love country music, started in country music. I’m really just going back to my roots. ●– – Tiffany (yep, that Tiffany) on going country.

The drag about playing a show like this is you can’t scratch your ass all night long. ●– – Vince Gill, performing in the round.

Ben says we can handle sexy but not sheer stupidity. But I don’t think “Brown Chicken, Brown Cow” is much, if any, more stupid than all sorts of songs that country radio has turned into hits. Joe Diffie, George Jones, Mel McDaniel, Mark Chesnutt, Tracy Byrd, and many others have recorded songs at least as stupid as “Brown Chicken.” Why, Mr Adkins himself has had hits with songs just as stupid in the past.

Stupidity is not a bar to airplay on country radio. Neither is sexiness — Conway Twitty obviously sang songs far sexier and far more suggestive than “Brown Chicken,” and sex and suggestiveness still make their way onto the playlists with some frequency.

Perhaps sexiness and stupidity don’t go well together. Could that explain some hostility to “Brown Chicken?” Maybe, but “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” and “Big Green Tractor” are both laced with idiocy and innuendo. And they were both big hits.

Perhaps if “Brown Chicken, Brown Cow” flops, it may be these reasons: 1) the joke is only mildly funny 2) I suspect quite a few people won’t even get the joke at all, 3) unlike some of the other novelty songs, which contain several funny lines, “Brown Chicken” contains only one or two borderline-funny lines. And 4) the song just isn’t that catchy.

True enough. Its not to say that having him is going to be a win, but it could be a win. Of course, that’s assuming Brad Paisley’s the artist Trisha Yearwood is. I just like playing devils advocate, truth be known.

Trace, or one of his people, didn’t listen to the fans. They did a survey on his FaceBook page asking people which song should be his next single. Ala Freakin’ Bama was way ahead the last time I looked. Brown Chicken Brown Cow was in 4th or 5th place. I heard John Rich do the Brown Chicken Brown Cow joke on GAC first, then saw the video on youtube. Might have turned out better if John had done the song.

I’ve said before that it’s quite a sad commentary on modern country that many of the songs on Common Thread sounded more country than what’s been played on country radio for the last few years. But then, I suppose Alan Jackson could make damn near anything into a country song. (His version of “Tequila Sunrise” was my favorite from that cd.)